Update on Sunday's highway crash

Awaaz Punjab first reported this collision on Sunday with the early Kenyan toll of 22 dead. The Associated Press, reporting from the scene and hospitals, now puts the toll at at least 24 dead and 24 injured, and the Kenyan government has responded with inspection orders and a promised road-safety crackdown. Read the first report: 22 killed near Mtito Andei

NAIROBI - A bus carrying mourners collided with a cement truck on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway in southeastern Kenya at about 7:45 a.m. (04:45 GMT) on Sunday, killing at least 24 people, police said, in an account reported by the Associated Press and carried by Al Jazeera. Another 24 people were injured, hospital officials said. The crash happened in the Kanga area near Mtito Andei, on the road linking the capital, Nairobi, to the coastal city of Mombasa.

Source: Associated Press via Al Jazeera, Oct 25

24People killed in Sunday's bus-truck collision at Kanga near Mtito Andei, police said (AP) - up from 22 in early reports
24People injured, hospital officials said (AP)
17People killed in another crash on the same highway near Salama on October 3, most of them Catholic pilgrims
7:45 a.m.Time of Sunday's collision (04:45 GMT), at Kanga on the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway

The bus belonged to the Power of the Word Church International in Mombasa and was taking passengers home from their pastor's funeral in western Kenya; the group had stopped for breakfast shortly before the collision, one survivor said. Survivor Violet Mwandonyi told the Associated Press that she remembered passengers crying out for passing motorists to help, and that she did not know what had happened to her two children, who had been travelling on the bus. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Source: Associated Press via Al Jazeera, Oct 25

What is solid

  • At least 24 people were killed and 24 injured when the church bus and a cement truck collided at Kanga near Mtito Andei at about 7:45 a.m. on Sunday (police and hospital officials, via AP)
  • The bus belonged to Power of the Word Church International of Mombasa and was carrying mourners home from their pastor's funeral in western Kenya (AP)
  • President William Ruto offered condolences on Sunday and ordered inspections of vehicles used for public transport (AP)
  • On October 3, a multi-vehicle crash near Salama on the same highway killed 17 people, most of them Catholic pilgrims, and the NTSA had already identified that stretch as crash-prone (AP)

What is only claimed

  • How the collision happened is disputed: Makueni County Commissioner Abdullahi Khalif told The Standard the bus driver tried to overtake several vehicles before hitting the oncoming truck, and the NTSA also pointed to dangerous overtaking - but another survivor said the truck struck the bus from behind (AP)
  • The investigation is still under way, so no official final cause has been established

Government promises a crackdown

President William Ruto offered condolences on Sunday and ordered inspections of vehicles used for public transport. Transport Minister Davis Chirchir said the government would step up enforcement against speeding and unsafe overtaking, improve dangerous sections of road and strengthen training and checks for commercial drivers, the Associated Press reported. The promises follow the October 3 crash on the same highway, after which similar pledges were made.

Source: Associated Press via Al Jazeera and syndicated copies, Oct 25

Awaaz Punjab's first report on Sunday carried the early toll and the first official confirmation from Makueni County. Read: 22 killed as bus and lorry collide near Mtito Andei